TV Review: Mad Men Season 7 Part 2 + Overall Show Thoughts
It's hard to imagine a world without Don Draper in it. For the last eight years I've loved almost every second of watching AMC's hit show Mad Men. Jon Hamm starred as the lead character Don Draper an advertising genius who's life was anything but what he portrayed it to be. In fact a lot of what the last season of Mad Men explored was the unravelling of Don and everything he built up around him.
If you've never watched Mad Men this isn't a post for you. If you have and plan of finishing the show at any point, this post isn't for you. However if like Jenn and I you stuck with the show for its seven season run then this post is for you. What I loved about Mad Men more then anything else was every Sunday being brought into a world that I wasn't alive to witness. The show took place in the 1960's and 1970's where the US went through more change then at any other point in the 20th century.
The show explores drugs and alcohol in the work place. I don't believe you could point to one episode in the entire shows 92 episode run that didn't have someone smoking or someone drinking. It explored women being constantly mistreated in the workplace. It also showed that attitude gradually start to shift as the years past. It served as a sad reminder that even 40 years later in 2015 this is still a major issue that still needs fixing. It showed the shift in characters feeling towards African American in the workplace as well. There was a ton of resentment and
Mad Men in a lot of ways was one of the catalyst of what many now consider the renaissance of incredible television. Mad Men is written on a different level then almost any other television show out there. It's a standard that many shows are only still trying to aspire to. However like many shows the last two seasons in particular seemed to lose its way. It lost sight of what made Mad Men such an engaging show to watch, the workplace. We started venturing out more into relationships, opening a California branch, and all sorts of other crazy tangents.
And yet we hung around and saw Don's character unravel to a point of almost throwing it all away. And yet the show ends with one of the most iconic Coca Cola ads ever produced. In full disclosure I had no idea what it was when the credits rolled but I did a quick google searched and I guess it was quite the revolutionary ad for the time.
Mad Men's lows were still better then most shows highs. Its a show that I in particular genuinely looked forward to each and every week. I didn't necessarily care for the last two seasons but that doesn't dampen my love for the series. I will miss Mad Men quite a bit but enjoyed the ride while it lasted.
